


Last Night

by masc_malfunction



Series: The Check, Please! Sad Boy Playlist [1]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Gen, Insecurity, Introspection, Late Night Phone Calls, Light Angst, Loneliness, M/M, Monologue, One-sided Conversation, Pining, Post-Break Up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-03
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-06-03 07:40:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19459450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/masc_malfunction/pseuds/masc_malfunction
Summary: Of all the things Kent expected he'd be after his NHL draft, alone wasn't one of them.





	Last Night

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first work of mine in a series, that I very originally named the Sad Boy Playlist. These fics started as little writing exercises, where I take a lyric from a song and I use it as a prompt. I ended up liking a lot of them very much, so I decided to post them. They'll all be pretty short, and most of them are pretty angsty. I just have a lot of angst feelings about these boys. The song lyric that inspired each little fic will be featured before every fic, as well as linked, so if you like this sort of thing, be sure to keep an eye out!

[ _Last night, I woke the fuck up_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axKguLdeMEY)

[ _I realized I need you here, as desperate as that sounds_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axKguLdeMEY)

___

_“You’ve reached Jack Zimmermann. Leave your name and number, I’ll get back to you when I get your message.”_

“Hey, Jack,” Kent let out a deep breath, scrubbing at his eyes with his hands. “It’s, uh. It’s late. Or, I guess, it’s early, where you are.”

Kent laughed. At least, he tried to. The sound that came out was barely more than a wheeze of breath. He knew he sounded wrecked, possibly even more wrecked than he was trying to feel. But it didn’t matter. Zimms wasn’t gonna ever know.

“I know I—your mom said they put me on some ‘do not call’ list, or whatever…I dunno if you just don’t get your messages until you’re out. Or maybe they delete them, and you’ll never get it. That would make sense. But I. Uh.”

Kent cleared his throat softly, looking over at his alarm clock. The red LEDs were harsh in the darkness of his room back home, but in Las Vegas, their brightness was diminished. Even now, at 4:26am.

“You would hate Las Vegas,” Kent stated conversationally, standing from his bed and pulling back the edge of his curtain. “It’s so big, here. And loud, And bright. And hot. And crowded. Even in the airport, the first thing you see is all lights, and neon, and slot machines. Slot machines in the _airport_ , Zimms.” Kent paused, closing his curtain and flopping back onto his bed. “So. I guess it’s good, maybe. That they drafted me, and not you. Because…I don’t mind that nothing ever shuts up here. You get used to it faster than you’d think.”

Kent scratched absentmindedly at his neck, while somewhere on the street below him, someone was shouting. “It’s really weird out here, Zimms. Vegas is…everything in the city is so busy, and so flossy, and it’s like…who do they think they’re fooling, right? Everything around it is empty desert. That’s all Vegas is, you know. Wasteland in pretty packaging.”

Kent paused again, letting his hand fall back down against his mattress. “I guess. I guess I fit in pretty well by those standards, too, eh Zimms?” Kent laughed again, louder this time, but it sounded more pathetic. “I don’t know who I think I’m fooling, either. If I was really ready for this, I wouldn’t be calling _you_.”

Kent squeezed his eyes shut, draping his arm across his face, willing the tears not to come. He’d cried the first night he got here, and he wasn’t gonna do it again. He was better than this. He was better than calling his secret ex to cry at him in a message he’d never even get, much less care about.

“I don’t know if I can do this, Zimms,” Kent’s voice cracked into a whisper, and he took in a deep, shaky breath. “You were—you were supposed to be doing this with me. And even though I knew we wouldn’t—we wouldn’t be _together_ , or whatever, you’d still be _doing_ this with me. You’d still _get_ it. I’d still have someone I could—”

Kent was cut off by a shrill dial tone from Jack’s line, ending his message. Kent clenched his fist, bringing it down fast into his mattress with a dull thud.

“Dammit!” Kent cursed, keeping himself in check just long enough to avoid throwing his phone at the far wall. “Dammit, Jack,” Kent watched as his phone screen flashed that the call had ended, before returning to his home screen.

“I need you,” Kent whispered through grit teeth, his hand shaking where it gripped tightly at his sheets. “I need _somebody_. I need somebody in my corner. I need you to have my back, Zimms.”

Kent locked his phone and let it slip out of his hands, hearing the clatter of the screen against the floor that felt too loud in the solitude of his apartment. This was it. This, Kent thought, must be that last step he’d heard about. If this was acceptance, Kent was pretty sure he should feel better than this. He still felt awful.

Kent wiped at his eyes almost angrily, kicking his blankets down to the end of the bed, flipping his pillow over in a vain attempt to find the cool side before shutting his eyes tight. Acceptance. Letting go.

He should delete Zimms’ number.

Maybe he would in the morning.

**Author's Note:**

> This story in particular stemmed very much from my own experience of very suddenly flying across the country to Las Vegas for work when I was 21. It was overwhelming, I was alone, I'd never been in a place like it before. Luckily, I could tell my best friend all about it. It would have been way harder if I couldn't.   
> I hope you enjoyed reading! Your thoughts and comments always make my day. <3


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